C2, in the stone age, as they ran out of stones, they thought their economic system was doomed. No more pyramids, stone walls for paddocks, stone houses, stoning to death, stones for weighing things and getting stoned were all vital economic activities in trouble.
But people invented P [amphetamines], springs for weighing, electric chairs, reinforced concrete made from recycled marine shells [limestone], electric fences and wooden houses. Life went on.
Similarly, when the iron age came to an end, the iron-mongers predicted doom. But bronze turned out to be a lot of fun and men spent centuries polishing brass before marching off in serried rank and file to hack each other to ribbons.
The oil age of the 20th century seemed a big deal at the time and as you know, I was up to my neck in the stuff. Not only were we keen to pollute the air and water with it, but we added lead to ensure a very toxic brew.
<The confluence of the hockey stick rise in so many things [population, cash, debt, etc.] at a time when cheap energy, the end all and be all of prosperity and growth, is peaking, is going to cause an incredible global dislocation for which everyone needs to prepare. >
C2, the oil age is ending. Cheap energy is nice, but I find I don't need much of the stuff these days. I wander over to a cafe and while I like my coffee hot, some cold food is fine. Sushi requires not much energy except a bit to make some soya sauce. Salmon grow very well in the canal I built in the early 1970s which carries water to hydroelectric generators. Water flows downhill from the valve tower I built in the early 1970s. The roads I built in the early 1970s are still working just fine. That is all prosperity. If the dopey government wasn't bringing in low value people and over-loading that infrastructure, things would be hunky dory.
Meanwhile, growth comes from cyberspace. zenbu.net.nz and zenbu.co.nz are proceeding apace with revenue and profits zooming. It's the age of pixels. As long as we don't run out of pixels, things should be fine and we can keep growing. We need some bits, bytes and photons too, but there doesn't seem to be a shortage of those yet.
Pixelation is the be all and end all of growth and prosperity now, not oil. Oil is so last century. Qi and Zenbu, CDMA and OFDM are the new currencies of prosperity and growth.
As billions of pixilated people surge into cyberspace in seething hordes, seeking Nirvana, a shortage of oil will be as worrisome as a shortage of stones, iron, brass and SUVs. As long as Zenbu doesn't run out of pixelated photos for pixilated people's porn, the economy can boom along happily.
Silicon is useful for pixelation processes and if you check Earth's crust, or your local beach, you'll see that there is NO shortage of silicon. Heck, the stuff can even be turned into photovoltaic panels to use hydrogen fusion [now successfully in operation to provide free energy] to provide the minimal electricity needed to run cyberspace.
Good riddance to oil and it's co-pollutant lead, which helped destroy all life in the Manukau harbour [which was seething with life when I was a 3 and first swam in it]. The Manukau is now coming back to life, rapidly. Good riddance to the 20th century. Here comes the 21st! As King George II said a bout Al Qaeda, bring 'em on.
Now we have Obama, "The One". Okay, he might not be The Second Coming, but he's a good substitute. Hope and Change are thick in the air. But funnily, the stockmarkets are singing the same old song.
Already Obama is off and running in the wrong direction. He's going to save the world from oil and CO2. He's going to redistribute "the wealth" from the producers to the bludgers. He has raised the ante on the "rescue" package into the $trillions.
Politicians like nothing more than spending OPM and when they are also persuaded that it's essential to do so to save the world, they will go to it com gusto. The outcome will be Brazilian, Argentinian, Zimbabwean.
A rule of nature is that people make things like the place from whence they came. So, to the extent that Barack is African, he will make the USA look more like Africa. If you think that's a good idea, take a look at pretty well anywhere in Africa. But start with Kenya.
Fortunately, Barack is not strongly African [being brought up by his mother and grandparents, with his father being like an unpunctuated Kiwi = eats roots shoots and leaves] and has highly circumscribed powers. But if he can induce fawning adulation by sycophantic Nancies in Congress and in the public, like any good demagogue, he'll be able to lead people to the promised land, or more likely, poverty and carnage which is the unfortunate result of following great ideologues such as Mao, Lenin, Adolf, Fidel, Mugabe. If he is indeed "African American" and not just American, then good luck. If race is as important as is claimed in the ululations, then that's a big worry.
Big government has become part of the USA landscape. It is getting bigger by the $trillion. Barack is in favour of a LOT more of the same.
Easter Islanders considered stones to be vital to their economy. Moais ringed the island. In the USA in the 20th century, oil was considered the be all and end all, with huge storage tanks and refineries ringing the continent and Yank Tanks cruising the freeways.
Mqurice |
